Ch. I: Introduction ; Assyrian record-rooms ; Libraries in Greece, Alexandria, Pergamon, Rome ; Their size, use, contents, and fittings ; Armaria or presses ; The Vatican Library of Sixtus V ; A type of an ancient Roman library
ch. II: Christian libraries connected with churches ; Use of the apse ; Monastic communities ; S. Pachomius ; S. Benedict and his successors ; Each House had a library ; Annual audit of books ; Loan on security ; Modes of protection ; Curses ; Prayers for donors ; Endowment of libraries ; Use of the cloister ; Development of Cistercian book-room ; Common press ; Carrells
ch. III: Increase of monastic collections ; S. Riquier, Bobbio, Durham, Canterbury ; Books kept in other places than the cloister ; Expedients for housing them at Durham, Citeaux, and elsewhere ; Separate libraries built in fifteenth century at Durham, S. Albans, Citeaux, Clairvaux, etc. ; Gradual extension of library at S. Germain des Près ; Libraries attached to cathedrals ; Lincoln, Salisbury, Wells, Noyon, Rouen, etc.
ch. IV: The fittings of monastic libraries and of collegiate libraries probably identical ; Analysis of some library-statutes ; Monastic influence at the universities ; Number of books owned by colleges ; The collegiate library ; Bishop Cobham's library at Oxford ; Library at Queens' College, Cambridge ; At Zutphen ; The lectern-system ; Chaining of books ; Further examples and illustrations
ch. V: Recapitulation ; Invention of the stall-system ; Library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, taken as a type ; System of chaining in Hereford Cathedral ; Libraries of Merton College, Oxford, and Clare College, Cambridge ; The stall-system copied at Westminster Abbey, Wells, and Durham Cathedrals ; This system possibly monastic ; Libraries at Canterbury, Dover Priory, Clairvaux
ch. VI: The lectern-system in Italy ; Libraries at Cesena, at the Convent of S. Mark, Florence, and at Monte Oliveto ; Vatican Library of Sixtus IV ; Ducal library at Urbino ; Medicean Library, Florence ; System of chaining there used ; Characteristics of medieval libraries
ch. VII: Contrast between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; Suppression of the monasteries ; Commissioners of Edward VI ; Subsequent changes in library fittings ; S. John's College and University Library, Cambridge ; Queen's College, Oxford ; Libraries attached to churches and schools ; Chaining in recent times ; Chains taken off
ch. VIII: The wall-system ; This began on the Continent ; Library of the Escorial ; Ambrosian Library at Milan ; Library of Cardinal Mazarin ; Bodleian Library at Oxford ; Works and influence of Wren ; French conventual libraries of the seventeenth century
ch. IX: Private libraries ; Abbat Simon and his book-chest ; Library of Charles V of France ; Illustrations of this library from illuminated manuscripts ; Book-lectern used in private houses ; Book-desks revolving round a central screw ; Desks attached to chairs ; Wall-cupboards ; A scholar's room in the fifteenth century ; Study of the Duke of Urbino
Library of Margaret of Austria ; Library of Montaigne ; Conclusion.
